Someone tells your kid to sit down and shut up?

Question

What would you do? No seriously. Would you be ashamed that a stranger has found it necessary to do this?

So many really good answers hereican't choose...going to the vote

Answer 1

I would wonder why I hadn't made my child behave as he is obviously in need of discipline and manners.

Answer 2

It's a tricky situation. It depends on the age of the child and the surroundings and the subject behavior. In any circumstances, I wouldn't say "sit down and shut up". Repremanding other people's children is only ok in certain instances. I find it sometimes necessary to tell other kids to behave if the parents don't notice the bad behavior. I don't think it's appropriate for a noisy toddler or anything like that. The child may not know better and the parent may be trying the "ignoring" technique if he/she knows the child is just trying to get attention. But if some teenagers are in a restaurant acting all nuts and they know better, I might say something to the parent or to the manager. Say another kid hit my child in the doctor's office waiting room. I sure would at least tell the kid "no hitting". I wouldn't sit the kid in the corner, though, or anything like that. I would give the parent a few seconds to say something first, though.

Answer 3

I am an adult and when a kid gets on my nerves, I don't tell them to sit down and shut up but do tell them they are being very noisy and if it isn't obvious, ask where their mother is.
I have had mothers get very nasty in tone when I tell a kid to stop poking his finger through the plastic over ground beef.
And my favorite experience was the small child (2-3?) who squatted down in the checkout lane and peed on the floor. In a calm clear voice I said to the clerk "This little girl has peed on the floor could you get someone with a mop?" The mother went berserk, grabbed her child by the arm, grabbed her groceries, yelled at me, "How could you say that, do you know what kind of trauma you have done to this child?", stormed out of the store and burned rubber away from her parking space. Thus doing far more trauma than anything I did.

Answer 4

I would yell at the stranger and tell them they have no right to talk to my kid like that, then I would tell my kid to knock it off. On the other hand though, a parent should be paying attention to what their kid is doing in the first place to make sure they are not bothering others. If the parent is paying attention, then there is no need for a stranger to yell at them.

Answer 5

First of all, my kids have never done anything to annoy someone so much that they have to say something. I taught my kids to behave. I did this with lots of love, being absolutely consistant, and setting proper boundries.

However, if I had kids that behave anything like what I see out there today, and if a stranger said anything like that, I would definately look at how my kids are behaving and make sure they are being correct, or I would quickly do something about it.

You don't have to hit your kids to raise them right. Just consistency!!! LOVE!!! Set the rules!!! Its that simple!

Answer 6

I think that it is the job of the parent to address the children. No matter how inappropriate the child was behaving, if the parents are close by, I would ask that the parent address their child's behavior and I'd make it known that I didn't approve (for whatever reason)

If the child was in my care I would never use those terms, however I would tell the child to "settle down", "Sit down", cut it out, behave yourself or something along those lines....but sit down and shut up to someone Else's child is simply unacceptable.

Answer 7

While it is certainly rude to tell someone else's child to shut up, it is more rude to allow your own child to be unruly in public. The parent of a child who was so obnoxious that someone found it necessary to do this should certainly be ashamed. Unfortunately, it's likely the parent who is the real problem.

Answer 8

Yes, if I found that my child truly needed the discipline and I was lacking in that department, I would certainly feel shamed.

However, if I felt that my child was doing nothing wrong, I would be outraged at the stranger trying to discipline my child.

Depends entirely on the circumstances.

Answer 9

I would not be ashamed that a stranger told my child that, I would be upset because I don't tell my child to shut up and I certainly don't want anyone else saying that to my son since there are certain words I don't want him to pick up. There are better ways of getting a child to behave. I say that if it isnt your child then you need to bring the problem to the parents attention because it is not your place to discipline the child.

Answer 10

Haven't you ever been in a waiting room and there's a brat on the floor disturbing the peace while the parents look blankly on? What do you think of them? would you want someone to think of you and your child the same way? Sometimes people see things about our kids that we see but have become immune. If your kid was being noisy and disruptive I think you should take it in good faith. Yes it stings but you can turn it into something positive.

Answer 11

If your kids were out of line and you weren't doing anything, then that was his only recourse. I have 2 young ones and try to stay on top of them, and keeping them from bugging people. I hate when someone addresses my kids in an authority role. I think back to the days I was a kid and adults didn't hesitate to tell me what to do. I think we shouldn't let pride get in the way. Sometimes other people see stuff different. If he was rude to the kids, thats not acceptable.